Siren review: Rachel Matthews on the toxic culture of macho celebrity

By Cameron Woodhead

August 28, 2017 — 12.44pm

Siren

Rachel Matthews

Siren. By Rachel Matthews.

Transit Lounge, $29.95

The reader's heart sinks when 16-year-old Jordi follows two AFL footballers home from a bar. Rachel Matthews renders Jordi's fate and the culture behind it with sharp urgency and a surprisingly delicate hand. Ageing footballer Max tries to stop his colleague, a meathead named Dirk, from assaulting Jordi, but is king-hit for his trouble. The rape is just the beginning of Jodi's ordeal, and the novel elucidates her predicament, with the familiar victim blaming as the football world closes ranks. Siren is far from unrelentingly bleak. It's an acute take on the toxic culture of macho celebrity, and pulls no punches on the sexual violence it can enable, but also a story illuminated by resilience and unexpected kindness.